Faunus rights
by KageNoYoko
Summary: In the city of Vale, Faunus are treated as barely more than scum, unable to hold work, and forced to mostly make their lives on the streets. Join the tale of orphan Ruby Rose, her big "sister" Blake Belladonna, and their friends as they try to make a difference in the world. Faunus!Ruby AU.
1. Chapter 1

Hearing shouting behind her, the small black-haired girl turned off of the main street down a nearby alley, refusing to stop, knowing that she would get in trouble or at worst be arrested if she was caught.

Smirking to herself as she caught sight of a tall chain-link fence in front of her that cut the alley in half, the girl wearing a red cloak with the hood up over her head took a quick look around the alley, and managed to devise an escape strategy in moments.

Without losing any speed, the girl charged at the fence full throttle, but just before reaching it diverted her path, and jumped, aiming for one of the two building walls, and used her momentum to run up it slightly before kicking off, giving her the added height she needed to mostly clear the fence, and landed on the balls of her feet on the other side.

Taking off out of the alley, she was lucky to find this street absolutely clogged with pedestrians, so she slowed her pace down and kept up with the crowd, using this chance to catch her breath since she was pretty sure neither of her pursuers were going to be able to climb that fence any time soon, and even then it was unlikely that they would be able to find her amidst the crowd at this point.

Weaving in and out of different groups of people without bringing attention to herself, the black-haired girl finally slipped away down another alley once she was absolutely sure that she was safe, and ended up in a small parking lot hidden from view, where she breathed a sigh of relief.

This turned out to be short lived, as no sooner did the young girl consider getting moving again did an older voice break through the relative silence of the alley, "Ruby Rachel Rose, what is this I'm hearing about a girl in a red cloak being chased down by the cops for stealing, again I might add?" An older, black-haired girl asked in annoyance, hands on her hips as the black cat ears atop her head twitched, and her long black tail swished from side to side aggressively.

Laughing nervously, Ruby turned to face her big sister, reaching up to rub the back of her head in embarrassment, while she tried to think up an excuse, "well you see Blake, I was just minding my own business, when..." but flinched when Blake cut her off.

"Don't you give me that crap Ruby, I know that you can't keep your sticky fingers to yourself, but don't you realize that every time you're caught stealing you end up bringing a bad name to all of us?" Blake chastised Ruby, gently, her eyes softening slightly, before continuing, "and take your hood off already, you know there's no reason to hide what you are around me."

Wincing, Ruby did as she was told by reaching up and grabbing the sides of her hood and slowly pulling it off, revealing a pair of twitching grey wolf ears, catching all of the noises echoing around the streets, and especially the sound of Blake telling her off.

Ruby was startled when Blake suddenly grabbed her by the black tank top she was wearing beneath her cloak, and stumbled as she tried to keep up with the older girl as she lead the two down another alley, and out onto the street, obviously with a destination in mind. The younger girl had the sense to keep her eyes trained down on her faded and torn-up grey cargo pants and worn out black sneakers, as she felt Blake lead her around hazards.

"You have to stop doing this Ruby," Blake told the girl gently, "I know that things are hard right now, but constantly having to outrun the police and change our hiding places is starting to wear on the others, and I can't keep protecting you from them."

"I know," Ruby mumbled back, "all I want to do is to be able to contribute, but the only way I can is by stealing," the younger girl admitted, "no one is willing to hire me for even courier jobs anymore, and if they even catch sight of my ears they run me out of their stores."

Blake paused a moment to look back at her little sister, and released a loud sigh, "yes, times are tough for Faunus like us, but like I keep telling you once you're 16 I'm sure that I can get you a job at the diner with me, all you have to do is keep out of trouble in the meantime."

Ruby thankfully seemed to perk up a bit at what she saw as her sister teasing her, and smiled up at the older girl, "but sis, it's so hard not to cause a bit of mischief here and there to keep things interesting," she whined.

"And that is exactly why I ought to leave you with Sun," Blake replied with a small smirk, turning to poke her sister in the chest, "that is if I didn't know he wouldn't stop you from getting into trouble, and would probably even help you with some of your harebrained schemes."

Ruby seemed to look affronted at her sister's accusation, "I have no idea what you might be talking about Blake, I have no evil schemes," the younger girl lied easily, and both laughed as they knew perfectly well Ruby always had a scheme being concocted in that twisted little mind of hers.

"Why don't you spend more time around the forges downtown?" Blake asked as the pair began walking once more, now much more relaxed with each other as they moved through the crowded streets, trying hard to ignore the way people moved out of their way once they caught sight of the pairs ears, "I know that you're always interested in tinkering with the latest mecha-shift technology."

"The last time I loitered around the forges I got yelled at by a few older men who threatened to call the cops on me, so that would have just been another reason for me to get in trouble Blake," Ruby admitted, eyes growing downcast.

Reaching out, Blake patted her little sister on the head with a small smile, "don't worry so much Ruby, I'm sure that things will change for us Faunus eventually, all we have to worry about right now is surviving, and keeping ourselves out of trouble."

Offering Blake another smile, Ruby followed the older girl as they turned into a shadowed alleyway, and sighed in relief as they caught sight of the other Faunus that were part of their "family" loitering around the hideout they had decided to call the nest.

Walking between the set up cardboard "houses" deeper into the nest, Ruby had to hide a small smile as a couple of Faunus kids ran past, one with a pair of rabbit ears being chased by a dog and mouse, before she hurried to catch up with her big sister.

"Well look who it is, our wayward puppy has returned to us, along with a naughty kitty cat," A smug voice spoke up from above the sisters, causing their heads to snap up and catch sight of a monkey Faunus hanging upside-down by his tail from a fire escape ladder while he munched on a banana.

"Sun, I see you've been keeping out of trouble at least," Blake replied patiently, "unless of course you stole that banana from one of the vendors downtown again, in which case it seems I'll have to reprimand both of you."

"You hurt me Blake," Sun replied cheerfully, "I would never steal from someone who calls my brothers and sisters such rude name as scum and degenerate."

"Sure you wouldn't," Blake muttered back, before walking off, not noticing Sun jump down and land in front of the smaller wolf Faunus with a wide grin on his face, but able to hear his landing, "catch up with me later Ruby, we have a few things to talk about, but I suppose you can have a bit of time off to talk with this degenerate."

Ruby had to hide her laughter while Sun looked affronted at Blake's sharp tongue, and glared over his shoulder at the black-haired cat Faunus, carefully considering throwing his banana peel at the girl just to get a rise out of her, but ended up thinking better of it and instead chucking it at an open garbage can nearby in a perfect basketball toss.

"So little wolf, what kind of trouble did you get into today that got Blake so worked up?" Sun asked casually, folding his arms over his chest as he looked down at the smaller girl with a grin.

"Oh you know, just the usual mischief, a little stealing from some anti-Faunus jerks, outsmarting the police's lame attempts at catching me, a pretty typical day," Ruby replied as she took a seat on top of an upturned milk crate, watching Sun jump up on top of a garbage can so they could chat, "probably nowhere near as much fun as whatever you bugger off to do during the day that gets to Blake so badly."

"Sorry kiddo, afraid I can't let you in on my secret plans just yet," Sun replied, waggling a finger at the younger girl, "Blake would really take a chunk out of me if she found out I was getting you involved in my adventures. As much as I enjoy bothering her, I don't have a death sentence just yet."

Ruby pouted in response, but perked up when the monkey reached out and began to rub his fingers through her hair, the girl able to see the small smile on his face as he looked out over the community they were a part of.

"Hopefully someday we won't all have to hide in the shadows like this," Sun commented more to himself, seemingly forgetting that he had an audience, "we'll be able to walk the streets without receiving dark looks, work and actually make money without people running us out of their stores or cutting our pay, and even have our own rights."

"That sounds like a dream," Ruby replied to Sun's daydreaming, "considering how much Faunus are discriminated against, I think having the same rights as people would be going a long way in making the world a better place."

"You bet it would, but not when those big companies like the Schnee electrical company practically rule the cities with an iron fist and choose to make it nearly impossible for Faunus to hold jobs," Sun explained before both sighed, knowing the truth in the monkey Faunus' words.

Jumping off of his impromptu seat, Sun grabbed Ruby's smaller hand and helped her up off the milk crate, leading the pair deeper into the nest, "c'mon, your sister probably wanted to talk to you before it got much darker, and I can't keep regaling you with my amazing stories all day, as much as I'd like to," the monkey explained, "might as well not keep the kitty waiting."

Ruby giggled as she followed the tall blonde-haired boy with a smile, relatively happy with the life she was currently leading with her "family."

 **X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Yang sighed to herself as she looked out of the window in her room overlooking the green park across the street, her mind elsewhere as she thought about a matter that had been coming up a lot recently.

"Yang, dear, don't you think that you should call up one of your friends, and go spend such a nice day outside, instead of cooped up in your room?" Yang's mom asked from the door, the young girl not hearing her show up, but mostly ignoring her for the moment as her amethyst eyes took in the city and her mind wandered.

Snapping back to attention and reaching out to grab her phone, the blonde-haired girl made an effort to look like she was considering her mother's words, before turning to the mature blonde with a fake smile, "yeah mom, maybe I'll call Pyrrha and Nora and see if they can meet me to go shopping," The blonde explained her plans, noticing the smile that grew across her mothers face as she heard the girl's plans.

"That would be excellent, perhaps you could find something to wear for that upcoming ball at the Schnee manor that we were invited to attend thanks to your father," the older woman suggested, before turning to go, "well, I'll leave you to make plans with your friends Yang dear, but remember not to be out for too long, I don't want you to get jumped by a bunch of Faunus once it gets dark."

Once the door was closed behind her Yang's face finally fell, and she scowled at the place her mother had been previously standing, before setting her phone back down onto her pillow and looking back out over the city.

"Stupid woman," Yang muttered angrily to herself, "goes on about loving me unconditionally and is always trying to make me happy by offering money and presents, but seems to forget that the one thing I want was the thing she threw out of the house years ago."

Glaring out at a nearby tree sitting in the park, Yang's mind flashed back to several years ago, when she was only ten, and her younger half-sister was still a part of her life.

Of course she was aware that Ruby had been conceived between her father and another woman, but the pair had quickly grown close and Yang had almost immediately become protective of the younger girl, regardless of the fact that she was a Faunus, just like her mother, according to Yang's father's words.

Yang's mother, on the other hand, was always glaring at the young girl, and never showed any concern about the eight-year old, leaving Yang to take care of Ruby as best she could at her age, and looking out for her whenever she was bullied, which seemed often, as a lot of people felt because the girl was so small that she would be an easy target.

She had gotten in trouble a lot as a kid for getting into fights with the kids in the neighbourhood, but she was at least proud of herself for coming out looking better than her opponents, and Ruby would always be safe, though neither of her parents cared in the slightest about the black-haired girl, just that their daughter seemed to be a troublemaker.

Finally Yang's mother seemed to reach her breaking point, and after a rather rough day out that to this day the blonde still hadn't gotten the full story from the older woman about what had happened to put her in such a foul mood, her mom had thrown Ruby out of the house, shouting, "don't you ever show your face here again you little freak!" Before slamming the door in the girl's face just as it began to rain.

Ever since then, the relationship between Yang and her mom had been strained at best as the woman seemed entirely unable to realize why her daughter had become so distant to her and tried her best to still be her "buddy," though Yang was having none of it and did her best to either be out of the house as much as she could by getting into whatever trouble she could find around the city, or by keeping herself locked up in her room.

Besides the fact her mother was very racist against the Faunus, or against anything that went against what she believed the world should be, she was incensed that her husband had cheated on her when Ruby first appeared on her doorway, and only grew more incorrigible when she realized that the young girl was a wolf Faunus.

Yang's parents relationship had also become strained over time, with her father coming home less often and devoting more of his time to work, while her mother did busywork around the house and did the shopping while she tried to mend her relationship with her daughter.

She could only imagine that eventually things would break down entirely, but she already had a plan in mind for when that happened, hoping that she would have been able to move out by then, and if not she planned to bunk with either of her two friends, Pyrrha or Nora while she got together the money she needed to buy an apartment.

Mind moving on to other matters as she watched a happy-looking family walk through the park, her mind returned to her mothers mention of the Schnee ball coming up, which her father had managed to get an invitation for from his boss for being such a hard worker. Yang knew her mother expected the entire family to attend, and for them all to look their best, since it wasn't very often a middle-class family like hers were invited to the Schnee manor, and the woman believed that they had to follow the image of being an upstanding, normal family in front of the rich, in hopes that they may get invited to other events.

The thought briefly went through Yang's mind to act out at the ball and make her family look bad as revenge for Ruby's sake, but shook that idea out of her head, knowing that was a little too extreme, and it would earn her a one-way ticket out of the house. Her mother already put up with a lot of Yang's attitude, and she was probably on pretty thin ice.

Looking back over at her phone, Yang scooped the device up and flipped it open, finally coming to the conclusion that she might as well get dress shopping over with, and knew that if she went with Nora and Pyrrha that at least she could have a good time and make a day of it, unlike if she was forced to go with her mother closer to the day of the event.

Scrolling through her contacts, she finally found Pyrrha's number, and quickly hit the call button, hoping against hope that Nora wouldn't have been gorging herself on sweets this weekend, or was off on a "not-date" with Ren.

Yang chuckled to herself as she thought about the complicated relationship between those two, while she listened to the phone ring, just waiting for Pyrrha to pick up.

 **X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Weiss Schnee was definitely in a mood as she stalked through the halls of the mansion, watching as the maids got out of her way, aware not to bother her when she was on the warpath.

Storming down the main staircase of the Schnee manor, Weiss was unprepared to find her younger sister standing there already waiting for her, a smug smile on her face as she looked up at her big sister, "is something the matter Weiss?" She asked cheekily, both girls knowing perfectly well what the problem was.

Growling and taking a deep breath to try and contain her anger, Weiss' sharp blue eyes stared down at her younger sister, "have you seen father Winter, I would like to have a few words with him regarding this ball he has plans to host, and we need to talk about it as soon as possible."

Turning away from her sister and acting like she was thinking about it, Winter brought a hand up to her mouth and began to tap her fingers against her lips as she hid her giggles, noting out of the corner of her eye the way Weiss' eye was twitching in annoyance and having a lot of fun teasing her big sister.

Finally returning her full attention to Weiss, Winter explained what was wrong with the older girl's plans, "I'm afraid that father left earlier today on a trip into Mistral to meet with a few of his business partners, and won't be returning until the day before the ball is to be held," the younger girl explained with a bright smile, already knowing how Weiss would react to that news.

Roaring in indignation at the fact her father had simply left this mess up to her to take care of, the white-haired girl turned away from her little sister and stormed back through the hallway doors leading into the east wing where the main ballroom was, Winter bringing up the rear with a giggle.

"What's the matter sis, I thought that father would have told you about the upcoming ball, seeing as how we host one every year," Winter pointed out, keeping in step with Weiss easily as the older girl marched down the hallway.

"He could have offered me more than a weeks notice about the ball at the very least," Weiss shot back acidly, "and then for him to go off on a trip and leave me in charge of all of the preparations is simply incorrigible."

"Perhaps he wanted to test you, to see if you had what it took to take over the company when you came of age?" Winter suggested, reminding both girls of the event hanging over the sisters heads.

"He has been testing me for that ever since I was a child Winter, I believe that by now he should have his answer about whether or not the company will be left in good hands when I come of age," Weiss replied, her mood still sour, but at least lightening up now that the source of her anger was out of her reach for the moment, "besides that, shouldn't you be busy studying?"

"The maids demanded that I take a short break, since father is away and there is no chance of him catching me slacking off," Winter explained casually as the pair entered the main ballroom at the end of the hall, where many maids were busy cleaning and setting up tables.

"Of course they did, they're much to soft on you Winter," Weiss muttered, but reached over to pat her little sister on the head, "always slipping you treats from the kitchen while you're busy studying, and helping you out with your work. I would love to find out how you got them all wrapped around your finger so easily."

"I'm afraid that is a trade secret Weiss, and I'd hate to have to share the maids attention with you, when I've worked so hard to earn it over the years," Winter replied, before giggling once more and stepping back into the hall, "anyways, I had better be getting back to work before Jaune finds out that I've slipped away again, that boy is much too concerned with my well-being, even though he means well."

"He was hired on as your personal bodyguard Winter, you should go a little easier on the man," Weiss pointed out, but received no response from her sister as she closed the doors behind her, leaving the heiress standing in the entrance of the ballroom, making sure that everyone was working, and everything was being put in it's proper place.

Sighing as she allowed her mind to wander slightly, Weiss moved expertly through the maids work area, slipping out of harms way numerous times before making her escape out onto one of the balconies built over the cliff that Schnee manor sat on the edge of, overlooking the ocean beneath as the sun began to set on the horizon, painting the water a bright orange.

Resting her arm on the railing and putting her head in her hand, Weiss found herself reminiscing about her life. Born as the firstborn child heir to the Schnee electrical company, Weiss had been raised with a silver spoon in her mouth and pretty much whatever she wanted, though her father was very strict about the girls studies, and started her learning about the company she would one day inherit at a young age.

Not expecting to have a second child, Weiss' parents had settled into a rather tame monotony, her father took over the company full-time, while her mother watched Weiss and helped her with her studies where she could, and tried to give the girl as much love and attention as the growing girl needed.

It was considered a miracle when Winter, her younger sister had been conceived, though Weiss' father was at first concerned her mother had an affair with another man, as he claimed he had never touched his wife after Weiss was born, until her mother explained one night when he had come home very drunk, and the girl tuned out the rest of the story.

Unfortunately the girl's mother died in childbirth, leaving a grief-stricken husband with two daughters, and an empire to manage. Choosing to focus all of his attention on the company, he left the care of his daughters to the maids, and all but stopped coming home at night, leaving the two girls with only each other.

Things would have remained this way, if there hadn't been an attempt on the young heiress' life several years later. As it turned out, the Schnee electrical company had made many Faunus unhappy with their lowered pay and longer hours, and a terrorist group formed up, trying to get back at the Schnee family and try to earn respect for their kind.

This only helped fan the flames between Weiss' father and the Faunus, as he immediately fired all of his Faunus workers, and hired on more humans, while also paying for bodyguards for both of his children, refusing to allow anything to happen to either of his heiress.

Weiss could have said it was touching that he seemed to care so much about the girls that he would hire bodyguards for them, but the white-haired girl knew that the man only really cared that his empire would continue through one of his children, and refocused all of his efforts on making more money and funding more anti-Faunus laws.

Shaking her head in disappointment, Weiss knew that things were going to reach a breaking point eventually, as the Faunus were not so easily put down, and the terrorist organization, the White Fang, continued to organize hit and run attacks on various Schnee-funded businesses.

Groaning ad getting her mind back on topic, Weiss turned back to the ballroom and marched inside, planning to put the matter of the Faunus behind her for now, and focus on getting everything ready for the upcoming ball, no matter how uncomfortable the thought of hosting such a gathering was making the girl.

She swore that Weiss and Verde Schnee would be having words once he returned from his trip, as this wasn't the first time the man had dropped such a large project on his daughter suddenly and then took off on a "business trip."


	2. Chapter 2

Ruby grinned as she followed Sun across rooftops, easily keeping pace with the older boy as the pair darted across the city while the moon hung overhead, out for a nice midnight stroll, much to Blake's eventual chagrin when she found out they were both gone.

Clearing the gap between two apartment buildings, Ruby stopped for a moment to look out over the city, and gaped when she caught sight of the bright lights shining around one of the most well-known locations in all of Vale: the Schnee manor.

Sun jumped down beside her soundlessly, and put his hand on the young wolf's head, "why'd you stop puppy?" He asked, before noticing where she was looking and clicked his tongue in understanding, "ah, the Schnee manor, sure looks like they're putting on a show tonight."

"What do you think is going on over there?" Ruby asked curiously, looking up at her big brother, who offered her a bright smile as he scratched behind one of her grey wolf ears.

"I think that I heard something about the Schnee family hosting some kind of big ball tonight, so if I had to guess I'd say the party is in full swing," Sun replied, keeping his eyes trained on the distant mansion.

"Do you think that we could get a bit closer to it, maybe try and see what's going on?" Ruby inquired hopefully, having never gotten to see a ball before in her young life, and very curious about what it looked like.

Knowing that Blake wouldn't approve of him bringing Ruby so close to the number one anti-Faunus group in the city, Sun was almost ready to tell the younger girl no, but one look at those hopeful silver eyes and he immediately caved, reaching down to pat her head again. "Fine, but we have to stick to the rooftops so we aren't seen by anyone, don't want to get in trouble for loitering around the Schnee mansion."

Ruby cheered comically before bolting off in the direction of the mansion, and Sun wasn't far behind the excitable girl, shaking his head as he tried to think of what he would tell Blake if she found out the two had gotten close to the mansion.

 **X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Yang squirmed uncomfortable in her orange dress, forced to stand next to her mother quietly as she made nice with a few of the other guests at the Schnee ball. The blonde-haired girl would have given anything to get away from all of these people for the night, but at the moment it didn't look like there was a hope in a hot place of her slipping away.

Of course she had caught sight of the Schnee Heiress a few times, but the white-haired girl didn't seem very approachable, judging by all of the boys that had walked away from her looking disappointed or angry, which made the blonde chuckle to herself quietly to avoid inciting her mothers wrath.

'Leave it to a Schnee to have no fun at their own party,' Yang thought to herself, 'hasn't even stepped out for a dance once tonight, and has been turning away potential suitors left and right while making nice with all of her fathers business partners.'

It was all Yang could do to hold her tongue and avoid making a scene, as she hadn't even wanted to attend this event, but her mother basically told her that she was going without any room for argument, and as much as she wanted to tell the woman to shove it, she found herself biting her tongue and simply dealing.

She knew that she couldn't make a scene anyways, since anything she did tonight could lead back to her father, and at the worst he could end up losing his job if she made a bad showing. Considering how much power the Schnee family had, getting a company to fire a single man would probably require barely more than a wave of the billionaire's hand.

Sighing as she let her eyes wander around once more, Yang suddenly noticed something that seemed a little out of the ordinary, and tried to focus harder on it to compensate. From what it looked like there was a man in a black suit standing by one of the exits of the ballroom, which wouldn't have aroused any suspicions in the blonde, except for the fact he was wearing sunglasses, unlike anyone else.

Now that she had noticed it, she started to catch sight of other people in odd states of dress. Standing at attention at another exit was a woman in a black suit with a bow tied in her hair and a matching pair of sunglasses, at both balcony windows were very stocky men wearing black berets, and very close to the Schnee heiress were a pair of gangly men wearing strange furry belts around their waist.

'Something seems wrong here,' Yang thought to herself, 'none of these people look like the security that the Schnee family hired, and they're blocking all of the exits.' Choosing to err on the side of caution, Yang slipped away from her mother, and started towards the Schnee heiress, hoping that the feeling in her gut was wrong and there wasn't something fishy going on.

Unfortunately the blonde apparently wasn't sneaky enough as one of the black-dressed men saw her approaching the Schnee heiress slowly, and spoke into a walkie-talkie he had been carrying, before slipping back into the crowds while adjusting the Black bandana around his forehead.

Catching sight of the way the two men were now hurrying towards the heiress, Yang's stomach dropped and she tried to push through a few guests, hoping to close the distance between them first and intercept the pair before they reached Weiss.

She jumped in shock when gunfire suddenly rang out in the room, and everyone turned to look at where the sound had come from, finding a single tall man in a black suit standing there, holding a gun aimed up at the ceiling, the barrel smoking from discharging it, "nobody move, the White Fang are taking control of this party, and all of you are now hostages!" He shouted.

A few people gasped in shock as the various black-dressed people pulled off shades and hats, revealing Faunus features like strangely-colored eyes, ears, and some even had tails. Each of them was carrying a firearm of some kind, and pointed them threateningly at the guests, beginning to corral them towards the centre of the room.

Growling as she knew something was fishy, Yang managed to close the distance just before the two guys reached Weiss, both reaching out to grab the heiress, and punched one of the Faunus in the face, sending him flying away from the white-haired girl.

Shocked at the blonde who suddenly blasted out of the crowd to save her from the Faunus that had snuck up without her notice, Weiss stepped back and brought a hand to her mouth in shock as the other tried to stop the blonde from interfering.

Ducking out of the way of his sloppy swipe at her, Yang managed to connect a punch with the man's gut, sending him to the ground in a crumpled heap. Grinning at her victory, she was unprepared for another Faunus to bash her over the back of the head, stars exploding in front of her eyes as she fell forward, but was grabbed before she could hit the ground. Hearing a cry, she knew that the Schnee heiress was also being taken.

"That was pretty ballsy of you blondie," the obvious leader of the group growled out as the two girls were brought before him, while the rest of the Faunus made sure none of the others tried to play hero, "brave, but also quite stupid. Now it looks like we're going to have to take care of you as well as miss Schnee here."

Yang was able to catch her mother shout something at the man, but her head was swimming too much for her to make it out as the two girls were dragged out onto the balcony, where the moon hung tauntingly overhead. One of the men raised his sidearm to the blonde girl's head with a grin, "too bad heroes don't actually exist, or you might have had a chance to be saved," he snarled in Yang's ear.

Closing her eyes, Yang patiently awaited the end, knowing that with her head as muddled as it was she had no chance to break free, but could at least go with the knowledge that she had tried to protect the Schnee heiress to the best of her abilities.

 **X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Ruby grinned at she stopped on the last roof opposite the Schnee mansion, and her mouth opened wider as she caught sight of all of the bright lights shining around the building, and the large garden leading up the driveway.

Sun landed beside the girl and sighed in relief as he leaned against the edge of the building, taking in the same view that the younger girl was, and whistled appreciatively, "when the Schnee family host a party, they really go all-out, don't they red?"

Ruby pouted up at the older teen, "I thought I told you not to call me that Sun," she complained, hitting the older boy in the arm, making him laugh before the pair settled back down and continued watching people slip inside of the mansion.

Tensing up as her ears suddenly picked up something odd, Ruby turned her attention to the front gate, where a group of men in black suits were standing and conversing, one holding a walkie-talkie to his mouth as he quietly relayed orders to someone, making the hairs on the back of the young Faunus' neck stand on end.

"Sun, I think there's something strange about those guys by the gate, and I have a bad feeling," Ruby explained to the monkey Faunus, who simply shrugged his shoulders at the younger girl dismissively.

"Don't worry about it Ruby, they're all just humans, probably the same as all the rest in this city, looking down on us Faunus just because we exist," Sun replied to the girl, "if they have a problem, leave it to the Schnee family to clean it up."

Both teenagers heads perked up when they saw a van park in front of the gate to the mansion, which all of the men in black withdrew firearms from before the truck rammed down the front gate, giving the men an entrance as they rushed up the drive towards the mansion.

Turning to look at the younger girl, Sun bit his lip before trying to tell her off, "Ruby, don't you even think about getting involved, you know what Blake will say when she finds out about this," but he noticed with annoyance that the girl was already gone, having jumped from the roof and easily cleared the fence, following the path up through the garden, and then jumped up onto the roof of the mansion in order to stay out of sight of the guards.

Groaning as Ruby took off without him, Sun knew that he couldn't leave the girl by herself when there were armed men and women in that building. Considering how well he knew the young Faunus, he could put dollars to donuts that Ruby would find a way to get herself into trouble, and knew that he would be blamed if anything were to happen to her.

"Honestly, I need to stop getting into these kinds of messes," the monkey muttered to himself before he followed Ruby's example and tried to catch up to the spry young girl.

 **X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Weiss watched in barely restrained horror as the girl that had tried to protect her closed her eyes and prepared to be executed by the Faunus scum that chose to threaten her family.

The tall Faunus that held the gun to the blonde girl's head had a grin on his face as he began to depress the trigger, but he wasn't expecting a young girl to jump down from the roof onto his head, knocking both to the ground in a heap, with the girl on top. Weiss breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the man's gun slide across the balcony and slip over the side, falling safely down the cliff into the ocean.

It seemed that the other Faunus were equally shocked at the appearance of the black-haired girl with a red hood, as they stood staring at her for a few minutes until the leader of the group finally got his bearings back and shouted for them to grab her.

Acting quickly, Weiss threw her head back and connected with the nose of the man holding her, hearing a satisfying crack as he released his hold on the heiress, allowing her to get up while she watched the black-haired saviour.

The first thing she noticed about the girl were the rather cute wolf ears atop her head, which twitched as they heard movement around her and were probably one of the reasons she managed to dodge all of the other Faunus' attempts at trying to grab her. Moving like water, she weaved between the White Fang members, stopping to kick or punch one here or there, but not even getting them to flinch thanks to her slim frame.

Weiss gasped in surprise as the leader suddenly wrapped his arm around her neck and pulled the heiress against his chest, holding a gun to her head and making the young Faunus girl pause as she noticed him. Everyone stopped moving as they realized they were in a standoff.

"Don't move girlie," the leader snarled out, "you might be Faunus, same as us, but that doesn't mean we won't stop from blowing both your brains out if you don't surrender right now and let us take care of this stuck up princess."

The wolf Faunus growled at the man's threat, but didn't immediately make a move, allowing the other Faunus to surround her and begin to reach out, intending to hold her back in case she intended to keep fighting.

"That's a good girl, now just stand there like a good puppy while we take care of this nasty job, and we can be on our way," The leader hissed out, but Weiss noticed that his hand was shaking as he held the gun to her head, obviously not expecting another Faunus to get involved in this terrorist attack.

Weiss was equally surprised when yet another Faunus fell from the roof, this time a blonde-haired monkey, who kicked the leader in the face, sending him sprawling. What the boy obviously wasn't expecting was for the leader to shove the heiress towards the railing, and for the white-haired girl to be so surprised that she couldn't catch herself in time, and went over, falling down towards the ocean.

Weiss' last thoughts before she blacked out from fear were that the girl and her friend would be okay, and that she could at least miss the rocky cliff.

 **X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Ruby saw the heiress go over the railing, and panic settled in her stomach as Sun continued to hold off the other Faunus from approaching the pair.

Suddenly the stand-off was broken as another Faunus burst into the ballroom, waving his gun around and shouting, "Verde Schnee knows we're here, and his security is on their way. We have to get out of here now, abort mission!"

Most of the Faunus scoffed at the order, but did as told, putting their weapons away and hurrying after the now retreating man, obviously unwilling to be caught by the Schnee family and being tortured and questioned about the White Fangs motives.

Sun finally relaxed as the Faunus ran with their tails between their legs, allowing Ruby the chance she needed. Pushing past the boy, the wolf Faunus used her natural speed to jump onto the railing, and then vaulted off of it, trying to get as much distance as she could from the cliff-side to avoid potentially hitting the wall.

At the same time, Yang finally got her act together, and just as her vision cleared up she caught sight of a head of black hair, a red cloak, and a pair of wolf ears on a young girl that was currently jumping from the balcony in front of her. Acting accordingly, the blonde-haired girl shouted out her name just as the girl disappeared from view, "Ruby!"

Ruby was unaware that was the moment the Schnee security detail rushed into the room, demanding everyone to get down while they secured the area. Sun took this chance to bolt, jumping over to another balcony on a higher floor, and made away into the night before he could be caught.

Hitting the water and thankfully not blacking out, Ruby used her superior night vision to try and catch sight of the Schnee heiress, but when no sign of her turned up, the young girl took a deep breath before diving down, hoping to save the girl's life.

Thankfully Weiss hadn't sunk that far while Ruby was distracted, so she managed to find the girl after only swimming a little deeper, and with more than a little effort the young girl managed to bring the pair up to the surface, Weiss' dress adding a little extra weight, but unfortunately Ruby had no way of cutting it loose.

Fighting the current of the waves and carrying an unconscious heiress, Ruby managed to work her way towards the beach nearby Schnee mansion, the place the family would have used if they were still as close as they had been, and was thankful when Sun appeared, wading into the water and helping out the young wolf Faunus with the heiress.

Taking liberal breaths of air once the three were back on shore, Ruby turned to check on the heiress, and was relieved when Sun, after checking the girl out gave her a thumbs-up, letting her know that Weiss Schnee would be okay.

Hearing the sound of more security turning up, Sun turned to the younger girl and grabbed her wrist, half-dragging her along behind him as they tried their best to avoid the humans. The pair were lucky that they managed to go around the threat with the help of their night vision, and slipped back over the front gate without any trouble.

Meanwhile, still slightly out of it, Weiss coughed out water and gasped for air as her father's security turned up, wrapping her up in blankets and making sure she was okay as her mind was stuck on the thought of the black-haired wolf Faunus that had saved her life.

 **X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Ruby and Sun jumped from the fire escape back down into the nest without a sound, the younger girl breathing a sigh of relief as she thought they were going to manage to avoid Blake's wrath for running off in the middle of the night.

"And where have you two been tonight?" The black-haired girl in question asked angrily, looking over the two sheepish Faunus, before noticing that Ruby was soaked from head to toe, "Ruby, did you fall in a swimming pool again?"

"Err, not quite sis," Ruby admitted, "We might have kind of, sort of gotten into a little bit of trouble tonight. But don't worry, we're both completely okay, and got out of it without any trouble," the girl was quick to assure Blake.

Groaning and bringing a hand to her forehead, Blake knew that she wasn't going to like what Ruby would be telling her, but decided to listen to the pairs story before deciding on their punishments, while she brought a hand to her forehead to try and stave off the headache she could feel coming.

Sometimes dealing with Ruby just wasn't worth the trouble, Blake thought to herself.


	3. Chapter 3

Ruby watched as the people wandered the streets below her, completely unaware of the faunus girl watching them as she kicked her feet over the side of the roof that the young girl was sitting on, while her ears twitched atop her head from all of the sounds that permeated the busy city while she allowed her mind to wander away.

Of course Blake had been absolutely livid and worried after Ruby and Sun recounted their encounter at the Schnee manor, and had expressly forbidden the pair from ever returning to that place. Ruby knew most of the reason for the girl's harsh words at the time had been due to concern over the girl she saw as a little sister in all but blood, and not wanting anything bad to happen to her, but she still didn't enjoy being scolded by the cat faunus for doing something as stupid as sneaking onto the premises of the number one anti-faunus group in the city of Vale with Sun.

Though she felt bad about it, Sun had taken most of the brunt of Blake's anger by claiming that he had been the one to suggest checking out the manor when nothing of the sort was true, and Blake had understandably ordered him to do a few menial tasks around the nest in an attempt to teach him not to do it again, which would have been hilarious in any other situation because of the fact that Sun was actually older than Blake, therefore it probably should have been the other way around in the hierarchy around the nest, though Ruby wasn't complaining about the way things were.

Ruby's own punishment was much less severe with just a scolding to not do it again, and telling the girl not to leave the nest for a few days while the uproar died down from the white fangs attempts at assassinating the Schnee heiress. The good news was that Blake had no way of knowing that the two had gotten themselves involved in the situation, and they would most definitely take that information to their graves, if Blake had responded so badly to hearing about them going onto Schnee property in the first place.

Much as she would have preferred to be out running through the crowds and playing with some of the other orphaned kids that she sometimes ran into in the alleyways around the city, Ruby had too much respect for her older sister to disobey her orders like that, so she instead busied herself by "people watching" as some of the other faunus referred to it. While it wasn't quite as exciting as some of the things that the young wolf faunus could have been doing, she was able to pick up on a few interesting snippets of conversation thanks to her enhanced hearing, including a few things regarding the White Fang attack, which appeared to be the talk of the town and in all of the newspapers that the young girl had managed to scoop up from an older faunus in the nest earlier.

From what had leaked out, it appeared that the basis of the attack had been because of many faunus workers being killed in a reactor going critical in another city of remnant, and the White Fang were attempting to get revenge on the Schnee family for their part in the matter, even though Ruby felt their only contribution was the fact that the reactor had belonged to the Schnee family. She didn't understand things like this in the same way that other people did, so she couldn't really say if there were things that she was missing about the matter, so she just kind of shrugged it off and went on with her own business.

"Hey squirt, what are you thinking so hard about?" Sun asked as he hefted himself up onto the rooftop that Ruby had been sitting on the edge of, and plopped down next to the younger girl with a familiar grin on his face that showed he wasn't bothered much by Blake's punishment for his attempts at "corrupting my little sister" in the cat faunus' own words.

"I'm wondering why the world is such a messed up place," Ruby admitted to the older boy as her eyes continued to follow the people down on the streets below, bright silver not standing still for long before moving on to another target of her attention as her ears picked through different conversations for anything interesting.

"No point in thinking about things that you can't change Ruby," Sun replied to the girl with a shrug of his shoulders, his own eyes beginning to follow some people that were moving around beneath them, before training on a group of school girls that Ruby had also caught sight of, which made the girl roll her eyes. She knew exactly what the boy was thinking about as he looked at the girls, and it was one of the things that made her gravitate towards other girls instead of trying to understand the male mind.

The pair continued to sit in silence for a few minutes before a thought occurred to Ruby, and she turned to face the older monkey faunus "wait a minute, aren't you still supposed to be doing inventory at Blake's order?" She asked, a bit worried that her older brother figure might be shirking duty and balancing on the edge of pissing off Blake again.

Waving his hand dismissively at the younger girl, Sun gave her a wide grin as his eyes returned to the streets as he watched a rich-looking businessman that most likely had a wallet full to bursting with money that he could sneak off to pickpocket for a bit of spending money "Velvet told me she would be able to finish up on her own, so she said that I should come and see what little red was up to." Catching sight out of the corner of his eyes the way that Ruby's eyes narrowed at the nickname, he quickly defended himself "her words, not mine, I swear!"

Releasing a sigh Ruby's thoughts drifted away to other things, including wondering for a moment what her former big sister might be up to since it had been a while since she had last seen her head of blonde hair in the crowded streets of Vale, and it made her body yearn to go looking for her, when she would probably be getting off school right now.

"You know that if you really want to get out of here for a while, I wouldn't mind covering for you with Blake" Sun offered to the younger girl, who gave a dry laugh at the thought of not following what her big sister had told her to do "I doubt she would care that much, everyone knows that you're a ball full of energy, and some of the older faunus have been making bets on when you would finally grow fed up and escape out into the city to play around for a bit."

"You guys have been making bets about me breaking Blake's orders?" Ruby asked incredulously, though she wasn't that surprised to be honest. It was one of the things that the faunus could do to pass some time, making silly bets with what money they had and their cuts of food. Thankfully they all had the sense to keep it out of earshot of the younger faunus, who didn't need to get involved with their games while they had their own things to do.

"Oh don't even try to sound surprised Ruby, you know perfectly well that it's all harmless fun, and that even Blake sometimes gets involved in the festivities" Sun replied casually before lifting himself back to his feet and grinning down at the younger girl, "anyways, I think that I'm going to bounce out of here for a little while, try to get some fresh air and maybe have a little fun with some of the locals. I'm sure that you're itching to do the same, but it's up to you whether you stick around here or go out and try to work off some of that energy we all know that you keep bundled up inside." With that the older boy jumped from the roof and managed to land lightly on his feet at ground level, startling a few people around him before he bolted off and quickly disappeared into the crowded streets.

Sighing again as she got up and dusted off her worn out jeans, Ruby turned to take the safer method down from the rooftops, not that she couldn't just jump like Sun had, but she had a bit more sense than that boy at times, and she'd rather not give Blake another reason to be angry with her while she let what she'd done the other night blow over.

 **X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Weiss' father had been understandably livid when he overheard that the faunus scum had managed to infiltrate his mansion during a party and attempted to murder his heiress, and was now making calls to numerous business partners trying to figure out exactly how this had happened right under his nose, and swearing that the other faunus would pay for this transgression. This usually meant pay cuts for all of the faunus workers, which made Weiss wince, considering just how little they were already paid.

Meanwhile the heiress was all but put under house arrest for the last few days in the mansion while her father's security team conducted interviews with every one of the house workers to try and see if they had been compromised and were at fault for letting the faunus into the building, mostly as a security measure. This left Weiss with little to do other than work on her studies and wander around the lonely building with her thoughts, which mostly centred on the wolf faunus that had all but saved her life on the night of her birthday that she could only see in fuzzy memories.

For the first time in her life the heiress found her thoughts locked onto someone that she had only met for a few minutes, and she yearned to see the younger-looking girl again and actually get to have a conversation with her, even though she knew that her father would absolutely forbid it just for the fact that she was a faunus. It irked the girl that her father's hatred for the second-class race might blind him to the fact that it was actually a faunus that had saved her life, and despite a few attempts at telling him about it, he had ended his call with her in a bout of anger. Weiss had of course done the sensible thing in the matter, and thrown her phone at the wall, shattering it into pieces that she couldn't bring herself to clean up at the moment.

According to what she had heard some of the maids whispering to one another, her older sister was supposed to be coming back to the mansion to take over security measures for a while, which made the white-haired girl's heart leap with joy at the thought of seeing her sister. While her relationship with their father was strained at best due to the older girl's life choices, they both knew that Winter was the most qualified person to watch out for her little sister and her father's precious heiress after such a catastrophic breach in security, and their loss of a lot of public opinion after the story leaked out into the city that Verde Schnee couldn't even protect his daughter and heiress on her birthday.

Wandering into one of the many sitting rooms in the mansion, Weiss was surprised to find one of the maids were in the room dusting, but paid the woman little mind for now as she took a seat in one of the overstuffed easy chairs, sighing as she sunk into the chair and felt at least some of the tension leaving her body, allowing the girl to think more clearly.

Barely paying attention to the maid, she was startled and jumped when the woman spoke up to her "begging your pardon miss, but it seems that there is something on your mind" the woman pointed out surprisingly accurately, helping Weiss to relax once more.

Though she kind of wanted to snap at the woman that it was none of her business, Weiss held her sharp tongue back for now and thought over her dilemma and weighed the option of telling the maid about her problems. Considering that the woman was paid by her father to cater to their families wishes anyways, she eventually decided that there would be little harm in the matter, so she allowed herself to explain the situation.

Once she was done, the maid nodded her head in understanding as she continued with her dusting, not looking directly at the heiress for the moment, but still paying attention "Well from how it sounds miss, you'd definitely like to see the girl that saved your life again, but she's living somewhere out in the city, and your father has expressly forbidden you from leaving the mansion until he's sure that you're safe once more."

"Yes, that appears to be the situation in a nutshell" Weiss replied with a sigh, the comfort of the easy chair easing some of her usual attitude, and the fact that it felt somewhat cathartic to be able to vocalise her thoughts to someone for a change, instead of keeping it all bottled up inside.

"Well" The maid began, before pausing as though weighing her own thoughts on what she intended to say "if you slipped out of the mansion and went to go and find the girl that saved your life, no one would be the wiser about the matter, what with all of the masters security currently doing interviews with the rest of the help to find out who infiltrated the mansion during your party."

Weiss looked up at the maid incredulously at the woman's words, blatantly suggesting for her to go against her fathers wishes and sneak out to find her saviour "but if they questioned you about it and someone found out, you could be fired on the spot!" She argued, even though the thought of disobeying her father was tempting, years of being the perfect daughter hiding a secret rebelliousness that she hadn't even realized existed before this moment.

"You could say that I have a few other opportunities coming up soon miss, so I wouldn't worry that much about me," The maid replied with a kind smile on her face, "besides, I promise to keep mum on the matter if anyone asks. I'll just tell them that you're in your room and that you don't want to be disturbed."

"How surprisingly conniving." Weiss hummed in thought as she debated listening to the maids idea about sneaking out. It wasn't like she could be in any more trouble out in Vale than she was already in the mansion, after such a drastic security breach the other night, and she didn't want to miss this chance to go and find the girl that had saved her life.

Making up her mind, Weiss fought her way out of the much-too comfortable chair and moved to the door before turning back to address the maid that had given her such good advice "thank you for listening to me, not many of the people that my father employed would do such a thing."

"It's no trouble at all miss, you might say that it's part of what the reason your father pays to keep me around," The maid replied kindly, though Weiss missed the smile that crossed her face for only a moment.

"I don't believe that I ever got your name, of have seen you around before though," Weiss admitted to the woman, sounding sheepish over the matter, "do you perhaps work in another part of the mansion that I don't frequent?"

"Yes miss" the maid nodded her head rapidly "I'm part of the kitchen staff, though they had to move me onto basic cleaning because of all of the interviews that are being conducted leaving the rest of the mansion short-staffed."

"Regardless, thank you very much for your advice, I'll make sure that you are employed here for a long time," Weiss told the woman before leaving the room, shutting the door behind her with a soft clicking sounds. This kept her from seeing the wide grin that appeared on the maid's face as a long tail peeked out from beneath the skirt of her dress.

"Just doing my job miss" The maid repeated with a sly grin on her face before she too left the room behind.

 **X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

 **So sorry about not posting anything in a while for this story, I did start working on another chapter a while back, but I ended up hitting a major block on it and then getting distracted with other things for so long that it looked like I was never going to come back to it.**

 **This plot has ended up with a few revisions in the direction that I originally intended to take it, but I did want Weiss to leave the mansion to go and find Ruby in the first place, and for Ruby and Sun to be punished by Blake for going to the Schnee manor, since neither can keep a secret to save their lives. You would be understandably upset too if you found out your younger sibling went somewhere they weren't supposed to, I would imagine.**

 **I say imagine because I'm actually the younger sibling in my family, but I have a pretty good idea of the kind of exasperation my older sister felt while dealing with me when we were growing up.**

 **As usual I can't say when I'll end up updating this story again, but I'm hoping for sometime in January at the earliest, since I'm expecting to be distracted from writing for the rest of December, especially after Christmas.**

 **Until next time everyone, Ja Ne!**


End file.
